Critic's tips, reviews

My web journal for WBOS-FM will now go into this blog. Cheers, Steve. spmorse@gmail.com.

June 14

* Merrie, Jennifer and Kris – at Club Passim on Thursday, June 14. Formidable singer-songwriters Merrie Amsterburg, Jennifer Kimball and Kris Delmhorst team up for this Respond benefit in Harvard Square.
* Cowboy Mouth – at the Paradise on Friday, June 15. A consummate rock party band that electrified the last Hot Stove, Cool Music concert at Fenway Park last summer. These guys can kick it.
* Sarah Borges – a Johnny D’s on Saturday, June 16. Boston’s most engaging female country-rock singer is starting to make her mark nationwide. She just released an album on Sugar Hill Records and the critics have been gushing.
* True Colors Tour – at the Tweeter Center on Saturday, June 16. This strangely compiled but inviting bill features Cyndi Lauder, Erasure, Debbie Harry (of Blondie fame), and Boston’s own cabaret-rock stars, Dresden Dolls.
* Stevie Nicks – at the Tweeter Center on Sunday, June 17. It’s easy to like Stevie Nicks with her regular band Fleetwood Mac – and likewise easy to enjoy her solo gigs. She was excellent when backing Tom Petty last summer and it’s good to see her continue her momentum. The likable, rockabilly-edged Chris Isaak opens up this Tweeter gig.
* Duke Levine – at Atwood’s Tavern on Monday, June 18. Duke has played with everyone in the local roots-music world – from Dennis Brennan and Peter Wolf to David Johnston and Jimmy Ryan – but this Monday residency is a showcase for the instrumental side of his repertoire. Guitarist/foil Kevin Barry adds to Duke’s energy.

CONCERT REVIEW:
Joss Stone at Avalon. I was hoping this show would be better. I love Joss Stone’s new album – an amazingly assured batch of R&B tunes, many written by Stone and the fast-becoming-a-legend Raphael Saadiq. But Stone was not consistent in concert. She was intermittently brilliant, but also intermittently amateurish. Her stage presence was shaky and her between-song banter was bizarre and often impossible to hear. At her best, she scored with the sexy “Put Your Hands on Me’’ (where her nine-piece, horn-stoked band shone) and the recent, Aretha Franklin-like hit, “Tell Me ‘Bout It.’’ But she often succumbed to monotonous tempos and it wasn’t a positive sign when one of her backup singers blew her away with a version of the Isley Brothers’ funky “It’s Your Thing.’’ Nor was it good when Stone came back for an encore of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry,’’ but sang just a little of it and left. She needs to work harder on her presentation.

MOVIE REVIEW:
“Once.’’ This is a fantastic movie. Go see it at once. It has been receiving four-star ratings and deserves it. A lovely, low-budget tale set in Dublin, it’s about a street musician (played by Irishman Glen Hansard of the group the Frames) and his meeting, and subsequent songwriting collaboration, with Czech singer Marketa Irglova. The chemistry is remarkable between the two – low-key for a moment, then smoldering at another. Their affection for each other never turns physical (though hints are given galore), but the musical bond they forge is quietly exhilarating. A great, great movie.